Where I've been

Sorry for disappearing. In mid-September, the Globe asked if I would help out on the metro desk for a few months, editing stories about local politics, and I agreed; I'm now starting my sixth week as interim associate political editor (OK, I made that title up, but that's more or less what I'm doing), helping to oversee our coverage of the race for mayor of Boston, and after the Nov. 3 municipal election I expect to assist with the editing of our coverage of a special election for the Senate seat that became vacant upon the death of Ted Kennedy. The current plan is for me to return to the religion beat sometime after the Dec. 8 Senate primary. I'm not writing stories during this period (although there may be an exception or two to that). At first, I continued blogging while editing, but it proved too much to juggle over the last few weeks; I'm hoping to resume blogging shortly if at all possible (I expect to post something Tuesday morning, so, as the saying goes, watch this space). I very much appreciate the notes and calls from folks who have wondered, or worried, about what I'm up to, and I apologize for not clarifying earlier. I've also heard from those of you who are unhappy with the way blogs are treated on the redesigned Boston.com home page, and I've tried to pass along those concerns. Also, you should know that we've introduced a new method for commenting on the blog that should make it easier for you to jump in, because your comments will appear instantly; the tradeoff is that they will no longer be moderated by me, and it will be up to you to flag problematic comments for possible deletion. This is the way comments are handled on Globe stories and many other Boston.com blogs, and I hope it will be a positive development here as well.

(Photo, by David L. Ryan of the Globe staff, shows a Boston voting machine.)